1945
by JapanCat
Summary: Mukuro's regime from the eyes of her former second in command, Kirin. Oh yeah, and he's not on the characters list. So now he's the new Shura. ...And that's about it.
1. 1917 to 1939

1945

Notes: I don't know what compelled me to start writing this but I did. Maybe because I'm such a history nerd and I wanted to incorporate that into my writing… More than Lovecraft Anon and Ride like the Wind already do, apparently. So all this is from the point of view on Kirin and the focus is on Mukuro's rule. He doesn't get enough recognition… Mostly because we would feel no loss by not having him in the series at all anyway. So without further ado, let me go on. And let it run through your minds as you read this that I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. I will explain the years in the next chapter. It's weird.

.1917-1939.

I was told that I was schizophrenic when I was in the army. I was a corporal back then. It's not so bad or so shameful like people think. Not as much people say so in other countries. (Sometimes I wonder if Yomi could relate.) In my home country, the one taken under Mukuro's wing, it's not uncommon to be diagnosed with schizophrenia so if you happen to be a person who gets that and multiple personalities confused you pretty much are the village idiot. I also think we're all schizophrenics. I wouldn't be surprised if the census told us that. I imagine the psychologists agreeing wholeheartedly.

But I'm getting off topic. I remember this one occasion pretty clearly, like it was yesterday. I had a close friend, he was a staff sergeant and I remember that he was from the same town and he ran away from his family to join the army- just like I did. There was so much more that we had in common and I could go on for days about it. The staff sergeant's name was… What his name was doesn't exist in the dictionaries where they have children's names. See? That just proves that I might be insane. The only personal thing I can state for a fact was that he was from my town only because he had the same accent I do- this one people in the capital call a Southern twang. (Basically what I've been told is that we have this tin can sound to our voice, whatever that means.) We didn't really talk too much until one day we were in the same foxhole. He turns around and he fires his rifle and his kills this Grandaran soldier. I thanked him for that.

"What? You thought I would let you die like that? You kiddin me? You're my comrade. What's your name? Kirin, you say? Well, now I know who owes me a favor." After a few hours we managed to make it back to the barracks safely. If he really held me to that I would have owed him thousands of favors, no matter how small. I probably only paid him back two or three times really.

He was a poet. I have a few of his poems hidden in my room. I don't know how I was able to write these without myself knowing since the guy isn't real. It's not my handwriting, which is weird, but it's there. I remember one clearly.

_"Once I was walking in a sea of cemented wall buildings_  
_A sort of napalm or firework high above my head_  
_Behind his tail trailed a sparkler of color_  
_Like a moth flying on fire_

_When that moth should spit on my mother_  
_I know the devilish phoenix shall rise again_  
_And the moth was held by a kite string_  
_Pulled by the graceful hands of My Lord_  
_I light my cigarette with the crack-crackling of my lighter_  
_Crashes all around me_  
_Explosions ahead of me_  
_Cries from below_  
_Gurgles of the men overseas_  
_Gun bangs bring the apocalypse_  
_And I still admire the beauty of Mukuro's kite_

_I am a fool."_

I was slightly offended by the message but I gave the right to him, which was actually pretty liberal of me. I loved Mukuro. Mukuro was great. "He" was my one and only leader and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Hell, everything else looked like eternal damnation as long as Mukuro wasn't there. But the staff sergeant had the right to think. (Thinking about it now, I probably didn't love "him" as much as I liked to think I did. If this staff sergeant wasn't real… It could be multiple personalities but I don't know how psychology works.)

He/I panicked one day when he was on leave. His/my publisher accidentally published that poem in a magazine in a magazine (which doesn't exist and apparently never did. I checked and the _Hitchhiker's Today_ never existed at any point.) He called me and he was weeping. He was afraid he would be punished. He knew people who wrote such things were always reported to the authorities. But there were always trials, right? I don't know anyone who was ever called in for jury duty. (I actually later found out that you had to go to some specialized school to be a juror. And not only that, you also had to take a test to measure your moral reasoning. What I've been told is that at the bery least you should base your morals only on law and order. It's tough work, I heard.)

So I called him two days after that…

"STAFF SERGEANT? That's a strange name. Anyway, I've lived here for years and I've had this same number for years. You sure you don't have the wrong number because I sure as hell know that you got a wrong number."

"Yes. I'm sure. But I know for a fact…"

"If you keep calling me like this I'll call the Ground Troopers on your ass and they'll take you away so fast you won't know what hit you. I'm not taking anymore of this harassment. Go feed a cow or something you hillbilly Joe."

And it was over. With that slamming of the phone. It was over. I didn't know who to talk about it so I told the first sergeant and he referred me to a counselor.

The first thing he said after I told him everything: "So corporal… Tell me, do you often, say, hear voices when you're alone or do you often see things that other people don't?"

"Are you accusing me of being crazy! I'm not crazy!"

"No. I'm saying nothing of the sort. Have you ever used drugs like maybe meth, marijuana, maybe LSD? I'm not judging you if you do. It's just a detail to consider."

"Now I'm an addict. I'm not taking any more of this."

"Please- calm down. I'm not accusing you of anything. In order for me to make an accurate diagnosis I must know some information. Your condition causes concern."

"What condition are we talking about?"

"Answer the question, sir. Let's start with the simplest one. Do you or have you ever used a psychedelic or hallucinogenic drug?"

That's a given. You can't join the military when you use that stuff. It's illegal anyway. "God no."

"Have you ever previously encountered a situation in which you heard voices in your head when there was no one there? Or have you seen anything that no one else saw? Say, what's the generic term, as in pink elephants?"

"No. Never. What does this have to do with anything?" I was starting to get pissed at this point. I refused to connect his questions to what I came to him about.

"Have you ever gotten stuck in a strange position like if you were to stretch and you were unable to move your body after that?"

"No. Why?"

"Have you ever been told by others that you exhibit strange behavior like talking to someone and people asked you who you were talking to? Being on the phone doesn't count by the way."

"No. Are you really accusing me of being crazy? There's nothing wrong with me. Why are you asking me about all this? All I wanted to know was where STAFF SERGEANT went or what happened to home. First sarge thinking I'm grieving or something?"

"Was STAFF SERGEANT really his name?"

"Yes. Strange name, I know. He said he would have preferred his parents naming him something like Unique."

"Yes, quite strange. Are you completely sure?"

"Yeah. It was on his name plate."

He called the nurse in and asked her to go through the archives to find STAFF SERGEANT's name. While she was gone, the counselor asked me to tell him about STAFF SERGEANT. After about twenty minutes the nurse came back empty handed and whispered into the counselor's ear and left looking nervous. The counselor groaned.

"How honest have you been with me, corporal? Just tell me on a scale of one to ten with one being completely dishonest, how honest you are."

"A ten." I started to dread the news.

"Well, corporal, I hate to break it to you but STAFF SERGEANT isn't in the archives. He never existed."

"You're lying." And my blood went cold at that point.

"The nurse saw no record of him."

"You're lying. She didn't look through all the records. I saw him last week. He's a staff sergeant. You can't throw a person at that rank away. You know how hard it is to get there? He was there. You can call all of the E company. He was there. He was there!"

"Please, calm down. Surely there must be a mistake."

"A mistake your nurse made!" I stood up and I started to imagine myself wrapping my hands around his throat and strangling him. He was lying and I knew it.

"Or a mistake on your part. Do you have a family history of mental disorder in your family such as schizophrenia?"

"I'm not crazy! You're all against me! You want to take something from me."

"No it's not a problem. Your condition could just as easily treatable I just want you to take your medication."

"I won't take it! I don't have a problem! You're all crazy! Not me! I know STAFF SERGEANT is real! I know it!"

"Corporal, calm down or I'll be forced to…"

"You're wrong! You're wrong!" He pushed a button just as I grabbed the chair so I could throw it at him. Somehow he was able to keep himself from harm in the few minutes it took for the two men to come into the room. The men grabbed me by the arm and then I felt this pinch… The next thing I knew I was in a hospital bed in my own room. There wasn't even a nurse in there.

I was trying to figure out just where the hell I was because I had never been in the infirmary before so I had no way of knowing if that was where I was. (I usually got my battle wounds taken care of by myself. I heard some ugly things about the infirmary.) I heard these two voices outside and then in walked these two people. One was THE GENERAL and the other was Mukuro. I struggled to get out of bed to salute THE GENERAL but I didn't know what I as supposed to do in Mukuro's presence. I've never seen "him" in the flesh until that point nor had I ever met anyone who knows proper etiquette when meeting someone of "his" status. Of course "he" waved a hand that I shouldn't bother. I didn't feel right staying in bed but I couldn't get up. I was still feeling lightheaded. But this was the absolute ruler. I wouldn't just stay there. I wanted to get up and well, I didn't know what I wanted to do. Kiss "his" feet? Bow?

THE GENERAL opened the door and leaned out. "Auch, man! How much drugs did you put ibto my man here? He's over here drooling like he's blind deaf and dumb. If you didn't think he was clean before- you don't give him a choice! What did he do that made you make him so high?" I heard some explanation. "Okay, sure but you didn't need to drug the boy up!" He slammed the door all dramatic and shook his head. At that time he would have been at home if you put him on a stage. (Never been to a play before but I often imagine the people would have looked like him at that time.) "Honestly! People these days! (As someone put it that was his catchphrase. I swallowed that, shut upm and accepted that view.) The second someone causes the slightest problem they go and fill him up with drugs. People these days!"

"If need be I'll look for someone to replace them," Mukuro said simply.

"I'm honored but I don't want to burden you with the stupidity of my own men. I'll take care of it myself. You have more important matters to tend to." THE GENERAL SHRUGGED. "so corporal Kirin. How do you feel?"

I think I answered that everything was just fine but I think it came out wrong because then Mukuro asked, "What time does that clock say it is?"

I do remember saying nine-nine-nine. It was an honest answer, okay? I've always had trouble telling time off a traditional clock. It's not my fault.

The two looked at each other confused but accepted it. THE GENERAL finally said, "So I bet you can't think of a good reason why the two of us decided to go visit you. I, as I'm sure you know, am the second in command to Lord Mukuro and I am interested in recruiting you as my assistant." I hope I asked why asked why instead of groaning. The result was the same anyway. "Well, corporal, if you have the ability to remember and I don't blame you if you don't- I inspected your company and I asked you all sorts of questions which you not only answered to standard but you also answered beautifully. After I left I began to think, why were you just a private first class at that point? You deserve to be at least a lieutenant. Though a master sergeant or a command sergeant would be a good start… \But a man of your caliber deserves to be my assistant. So my question to you is- are you willing to do me the honor of taking the job?"

Looking back on it, I know that I really had no choice. I mean, the guy would have kept trying to sweet talk me into taking the job until I got tired and just accepted. Either that or I would have mysteriously disappeared. I'm glad I was foolish enough to take the job.

"For the record, if you were wondering, I wanted to meet my assistant's assistant. I like to know who I'm working with…" And I think that was just the tip of the iceberg for Mukuro. I'll be getting to that later. "So what are you in for? In the hospital, I mean. Alone."

"Schizophrenia," I answered. My lightheadedness was going away at that point. "Just because… Yeah. I have schizophrenia and it got out of hand."

"Shame. But I've met many. Most of them are geniuses… What a world we live in."

"General… Have you ever heard the name STAFF SERGEANT before?" I just had to ask.

He looked like I just puked on his shoe or something for a minute. "Sounds like gibberish to me."

"Any name foreign to us sounds like gibberish. If you met me on the street I'm sure you would have thought Mukuro was a strange name too," Mukuro said.

"I think it's a wonderful name."

"Too bad I don't take empty compliments too well."

"Well said, my lord, well said." He turned back to me. "So what made you think of this STAFF SERGEANT?"

"He was really sad the other day. I wrote this stupid poem and… someone didn't like it so… I haven't heard from him since. Look, I asked the first sergeant and he told me to come here. The next thing I know I'm told I'm a schizophrenic. It has to be done… Yeah… That's all."

"Poets have it bad. They have the greatest talents and they have the greatest payment to make. Shame." And with Mukuro's comment, the two left.

So you're probably wondering- Am I really honestly schizophrenic or do I really believe that I have it? I don't know. That's my answer. Mukuro didn't force me tp accept that diagnosis at any point in time but "he" didn't say whether there was truth to the diagnosis. "He" would later tell me that he didn't believe it but I'm not sure whether I should take "his" word for it at any point. At least that explained why he allowed someone who was supposedly so unreliable in a high position.

Okay I admit it. I don't believe that I'm schizophrenic. But what schizophrenic or anyone else with a similar illness says they have it with their oiwn awareness. And going to quote the more recent number two (he was in the position for six months actually, more or less.) His name, if you're not aware, is Hiei and he'll be in there later. "Crazy people don't think they're crazy. If you say that you are then you're crazy, then you're not, you're just attention whoring. They never think they have a problem and they only way they'd know is if someone told them they have one. A schizo doesn't go around telling people they're schizo. You ever see someone walk into a mental hospital and tell the nurse to lock them up because they think they belong there? Hell no. Someone has to drag them in. It's common sense."

So maybe I am and I don't know it. I don't know. I really don't. Like I said before, most people I'm from have the problem.

I think the nurse couldn't afford to let some good gossip get away because as soon as I came back half my platoon looked at me with envy and one demanded I tell him what it was like to see the two in person like that. I gave him some blown up speech about how wonderful it was and how I wasn't worthy. Really what I remembered thinking was that I always thought the king was bigger. I won't lie to you. I really saw him and I thought, "Wow, he's tiny!" "He's" scrawny in general. I have a feeling malnutrition might have something to do with it.

That's not the point.

I was forced to lie. I couldn't be honest in a nation where you are forced to dream only of your king and serving him. And I was one of them until that point.

Let me define the level of this issue. Here's what I know at the time. You love Mukuro, right? So you would show your love by A- joining the military, B- getting a job, or C- going tp school in preparation for said job most likely. So if you were an unemployed truant and possible draft dodger then you were the scum of the earth. (Personally I think so. It has nothing to so with my loyalty to the state. I think you're a lazy S.O.B. by being any one of those.) You don't love Mukuro, you don't deserve to live. If you don't get your crap together then it's time to say goodbye.

You should also never _ever_ say anything bad about Mukuro. Now it sounds egotistical and possibly a bit like it's brainwashing but it's just common sense. You don't talk your crap about your own mother do you? It's different? Think of it this way- who's the highest respected person in your home? Your mother because she was the one who put more labor into birthing you. Who's the highest respected person in the government? The king because he puts the most effort to maintain order in our homeland, his child. If you still don't understand then we must come from radically different worlds.

But back on task you say anything wrong then you'll regret it. You go to jail for a _long time_. That's what I've been told but I've never seen it happen. I guess I lived in a bad area.

No, I just had a long way to go.

…

So I was allowed to leave the army and go home. I actually was never told what would happen to me following the end of the war. You would have thought THE GENERAL would have given me a place to report to. He never did. At the time I just thought he forgot and was disappointed.

Until one day he knocked on the door. I was out back doing some chores. When I heard the knock I figured it was just some of my father's friends coming over for a beer. Then my mother came into the room and she was crying.

She asked me, "Are you being court-martialed or whatever it is they call it?"

I was _really_ confused. "No. Why?"

"The… The general's here to see you."

I instantly knew what he was here for. I told her that I didn't commit any crimes and that he offered me a job. She didn't understand so she cried even more. I came into the main rioom and my father was there smoking a cigarette with that look of silent admiration. (I guess this was something to talk about over beers.) The general stood up and I saluted him. He shrugged and returned the gesture.

"I don't think you were expecting me. You don't happen to have your things packed, do you? Well, that's fine. I'll let you get it done quickly and then we can get to the capital."

"The capital!" my mother shrieked. "Why the capital?"

"I offered your son a job with me during the war and it was an offer that he accepted. For him to do his job I need him to come with me to the capital."

"So he'll never come back?"

"No, he can come back. Don't worry." She had nothing to say so the general went and started to talk to my father. I walked away to get packing.

My mother followed me to my room still looking sick. "So… Don't you go with any strange girls in the capital There are some filthy girls there."

"Mother, first the girls from Grandara and now the girls om the capital. You never let me have any fun."

"Oh… Why did you have to go an accept his offer?"

"You still have BROTHER to carry on the family tradition. I'll come back every chance I get. I'm not replacing you all with someone else. And I'll get to see the king. Isn't that wonderful?"

"Oh… Yes but I don't _want_ you to _go._" She leaned against the door-frame and wiped the tears away with her arm.

I lied to her again and told her I would be coming back home. Okay, it wasn't quite a lie. I just never had a chance to return. No one ever tried to contact me since. I think my mother was too bitter to allow any contact with me. I don't know if my brother ever found out about my position prior to the media's announcement or if he just always thought I was just one lucky runaway.

On the way to the capital, the general asked me, "So are you on medication for your schizophrenia?"

"No. They saw I could control it well." Actually they did give me medication. I threw it down the sink. He accepted that answer, at least. Maybe I'm too good of a liar.

"Today should be an easy drive. It's Mukuro's birthday. People are pretty laid back in the capital. We never have parades here or anything. People just don't want to work. Some part of town has a small carnival sometimes. That's only if people feel up to organizing something. But I tell you what, I'll show you around town and tomorrow we can report to Mukuro."

"Why can't we do that today?" I was really disappointed.

"Well, it takes a few hours to get to the capital so it would be late when we report to Mukuro. He likes doing things nice bright and early. It's also a national holiday so he wants us to kick back and relax. Besides that I want you to know where everything is in the city. It'd be bad if you were to go somewhere in the capital and you didn't know where it was."

That was a half truth. "He" really doesn't want people to work on holidays. It's a requirement though. No one complains about a day they don't have to work, though. I can also believe what the rest of he said was true as well. What he didn't tell me was the real reason why no one can talk to the king on "his" birthday. (Well, you really can, but I don't recommend it. No matter how circumstances may change it.)

There was some small carnival that day in the Eastern part of town. Some farmers made a nonprofit one that day because they had overproduced. That's all I really remember about it. I was too busy feeling important being near THE GENERAL. I could hear my heart pounding in my eras in excitement. I kept thinking, "I get to see Lord Mukuro tomorrow. I get to see Lord Mukuro tomorrow."

So the next day came and we reported to Mukuro that morning. I got to shake "his" hand. I remember wishing I could write about it in a letter and I remember wishing everyone in my family would be able to touch it so they feel the warmth from "his" hand.

THE GENERAL and Mukuro both went into some rapid fire conversation in a whisper. Then Mukuro turned to me and asked, "So have you been on medication? Like lithium?"

As I answered no, THE GENERAL asked "him," "How do you know about medications? Isn't that a metal too?"

"I know a lot of medications like Prozac, Zoloft, Cymbalta, Abilify, Seroquil… Things like that. Lithium is a medication. I think it helps with bipolar disorder now that I think about it. Well, that isn't the point. Welcome back, Corporal, no… Welcome back, Kirin."

I honestly was on the verge of tears. I thanked him again and again. Henceforth my job was set.

…And then I began to notice the minor inconsistencies…

END OF SESSION 1—NOTE THAT SOME NAMES HAVE BEEN DELETED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES

_Author's notes: Okay so there isn't much importance on the ranks so you don't need to research that at all. The bit about Kirin wishing to send his family the warmth from Mukuro's hand was actually a reference to an actual event in the Soviet Union. This worker in a factory had shaken hands with Premier Josef Stalin and he rushed home to his sleeping son. He put his hand on his head so that he too could "feel the warmth from Stalin's touch." (Radzinsky, Edvard. _Stalin. New York: Random House Inc, 1996.)


	2. 1945 to 1989

1945

Notes: This was actually meant to be a one shot and somehow it ended up being three parts wrong. I model a lot of this from Josef Stalin's rule. The first year in the last chapter (1917, the year of the beginning of the Russian Revolution, and in which the US went against the communists) was the year of the beginning of the Cold War according to Stephen Ambrosse in his book _Rise to Globalism_. (I think he was a jerk so that's a tongue in cheek comment.) The period from then on is actually the events leading to the Cold War… Along with the US's reluctant alliance with the USSR. The years featured in this chapter are the years that are the beginning of the Cold War til the oncoming end to it. (I didn't know we were in a history class.)  
…Also, the years have nothing to do with the year of the story. They're… metaphorical. Kind of.

.1945-1989.

I never noticed this before… Mukuro is suspicious. Sickly suspicious. "He" is really shifty-eyed and "he" has to know exactly what his assistants are doing all of the time. "He" has to have a copy of all of the newspapers published in the country. I don't know if "he" actually reads them all… But "he" might.

Let me define the level of suspicion. Here's a rule of must never touch the king. Yes, it's common sense, but "he" takes it to an extreme. Only "he" can touch you if "he" wants to. (Which actually gets explained later on.) I used to think it was purely because "he" was afraid of assassination. "He" was also unwilling to make many public appearances. "He" claimed "he" doesn't like too many of those super-patriots (or as "he" called them- fanatics). I am beginning to believe that it was all fear of assassination. It's strange considering that "he" could easily blow them to pieces if "he" wanted to.

Being in a high government position like I was is a pretty stressful one. There's a high rate of suicide- for people who feel that they've failed the king. (Or so everyone says. You don't know if they were also fearing the secret police.) A lot of people have the tendency to disappear. They go on vacation and either don't return or get assassinated. That's only when the media decided to play it straight and take a risk. Obviously I've had no first hand experience and this is all speculation. But who's word are you gonna take right now?

I remember once I had to talk to the kind alone so when I confronted "him" "he" turned around with a knife in "his" hand (at which point I learned that "he" always carried such things with "him") and "he" stabbed me in the stomach. The next thing I remember I was laying in a bed in a room I didn't recognize and Mukuro was standing over me.

"He" said to me, "I'm really sorry for what I did to you back there. I've been through some tough times and well, I don't take surprises like that all too well. If you've seen what I have then you'd do the same."

Did that make my stabbing justified? I couldn't eat solids for a week because of that. Didn't help much that THE GENERAL decided to think it was all a big joke. He came in later and slapped me in the back after I sat up. It hurt like a fucking bitch too.

He said, "So you got hit in the gut? Guy's done it to me a few times and I damn near pissed myself every time. Yeah, you'll pull through. You're a tough guy. You're army strong (Yes, I shit you not, he really said army strong) unlike most people these days… That's also why I picked you kid! You can still do work, right? You're back to eating solids now, I see…"

"I have a family history of ulcers and I've gotten one before," I replied and I tried really hard not to sound bitter or anything. The guy doesn't care either way as long as he got his two cents in. Though I did have the right to be angry, I think.

"Ulcers? You get ulcers? You got stress?"

"No. I dunno. We just have it in our family."

"Ulcers sounds pretty human. Those guys get 'em pretty bad. It's pretty fucking hard to enjoy some good tripe when they get ulcers… Oh, shit, corporal, don't look so down. I forgot you were from that area. You know I didn't mean it that way. You're not that weak."

Okay, compare being called human to being called a cow. It's that similar. You're comparing yourself to food. That makes you weak. …Though truth be told, human is a real delicacy om my country (even more so for those in Raizen's, you know, before he outlawed it). It's something only upperclassmen get to enjoy here. (So doesn't it make sense that Mukuro eating humans to "his" heart's content make even more sense?) Up until I got this position I never enjoyed human before. It's actually quite good. Until one day in boredom I watched some quantum physicist discussing humans.

Here's an excerpt I found from his speech:

"So our world and the world of humans is connected, yes? In  
the same way that humans are connected to the Spirit World?  
Why the connection to the Spirit World? They go there when  
they die apparently. Yes, I know. I've talked with them.  
What's that? Why didn't I just eat them and go my own way?  
Well, let me continue… I'm getting to that in a minute.

"But see, it's sentiment like that that would lead us all to go  
straight to Occam's Razor syndrome. We're connected to  
the humans simply because they're here to be our source  
of food. But then, why do we have other sources of meat  
here? Why do we have the equivalent of human meat sources  
here? We do we live in similar fashions as humans? Why do  
some of us even appear to be human? Wouldn't those individuals  
have less a chance at survival from an evolutionary  
standpoint, than a demon who is larger and more fierce in  
appearance? We even put limits on the physiques of our  
soldiers for God's sake!

"You want to know why? We're alternate realities. So if  
you were to go into the human world thinking, 'Oh it's  
an all you can eat buffet' know this. You're them and they're  
you. All of you are parodied in those humans. So when  
you eat that nice rib cage and maybe that woman's  
thighs and hell if you're that high up, that human caviar-  
please tell me how that works, by the way- know that your  
parodied self could be the one on the plate."

I found myself unable to enjoy a human after that to say the least.

But I'm way off topic now, aren't I? The point is I have the potential to be missing work and could be killed due to that mindset. Do I blame "him"? I really don't know. I don't know what "he's" been through so I can only guess. Does the fact that "he" may have been through a lot, enough to cause, say post-traumatic stress disorder justify possibly killing me- killing anyone at all?

Something else I noticed. Now, let me tell you this first. For hundreds of years we've been in an arms race with Yomi. Almost ever since the guy got into power with his fifth or sixth attempt. (I believe he proposed a communist revolution… A revolution that went well thus allowing Yomi to succeed. All it took fopr that to happen was for him to get the peasants of Raizen's unnamed territory and the near serfs on our homeland. As a side note, the families of those near serfs are ordered to be promptly killed should they return here, regardless of whether they sincerely want to come back. We have border patrol mainly for that reason. _I _applaud him for taking common sense into account but it shouldn't take that many goddamn tries to figure it out.) Within ten years, Yomi launched the Ten Year Plan- a plan which would jumpstart the growth of technology, which worked out beautifully if I have to say so- and so with its new-found title of the technology capital of the world, Mukuro felt compelled to create a similar program. That program was barely passing the mark in success.

Yomi then, apparently believing he was in danger of being outdone then extended his program to be the Twenty Year Plan. And as a side note neither one of these plans were to be completed in ten or twenty years. They were actually three years each I believe. Then there was the creation of the atomic bomb.

That day THE GENERAL, Mukuro and the foreign correspondence who name I believe was FUJITA TETSUYA (it doesn't matter. He died the following year and was replaced by FUJIMORI SUGURU.) and I gathered in a room.

"Do you know why I called you in here today?" Mukuro asked. Of course we _had_ to answer no even if we knew damn well what the hell we were called in for. "FUJITA, if you will."

FUJITA nodded and turned on the projector. "We just received some troubling information from NAME OMITTED ALTOGETHER. Now," he showed us a picture of the infamous mushroom cloud, "what you see here on this screen is the explosion from I believe it's a thousand yards away from the test bombing. This bomb is called the atomic bomb and apparently how they create it is by breaking apart an atom. It also has the potential to destroy a city the size of the capital. For those who aren't killed by the bomb could get hit by the heat and those who still survive the whole thing and tell the tale could likely expose them to radiation."

"Radiation? Explain," THE GENERAL said.

"I was not given information on the concept but from prior knowledge I know that it can cause a disease called cancer… which is a mutation of your body's cells and tissues which can cause the organs stop their functioning… Then death. This is a quick overview. If there is anything at all you wish for me to expand upon please ask me."

"Is it just a bomb or is it dropped off a plane?" I asked.

FUJITA considered it. "Yeah, at this point it's dropped off a plane."

"What if we we watched the skies and then blew it up before it hits the ground?"

"That could work… Let me confirm it with NAME OMITTED. The radiation will continue to be an issue, I'm afraid."

"What if we all do survive? What if we went underground to avoid the blast? Would the radiation go down there too, and if it doesn't, how long do we have to stay down to survive?"

"As far as I know, it doesn't go down but I'd have to confirm that with NAME OMITTED as well. I have a feeling the radiation would last years."

"For us, years are only an hour's inconvenience. Now FUJITA, tell me. How many of these bombs are currently in existence?" Mukuro asked.

"Only one. That was the back up. I suspect mass production. When he has time NAME OMITTED will send us all the notes from his own research- and he had one of the largest roles in this case-to us when he has the time. It will be soon as he told me. Yomi won't find a use for them he has his bombs in a large quantity. With these notes we can easily duplicate his bomb."

"Good. Keep us updated." Thus began the race. When we successfully detonated our own bomb, Yomi immediately saw a new threat and suspected espionage. With that, we never heard from NAME OMITTED again. Obviously he had to know if he could hear everything. I often wondered how NAME OMITTED was able to give us all the information. Let's just be glad (or put on that face and leave each meeting without much peace) that he was able to give us all the information we had.

Now, here's the interesting paradox we happened to encounter. Yomi was well versed in dealing with technology. Due to his constant strives to be worlds ahead of everyone technologically speaking, his country is usually in a recession. Our country has funding but we don't have the ability to top Yomi in that respect. That's not to say that we couldn't make a better death trap than Yomi. We can and we can do it within seconds. Where Yomi can improve knowledge of electronics, Mukuro can easily conjure up a new way to commit mass murder. "He" knows the chemicals that could cause your lungs to irritate so much that you can't breathe. "He" knows what parasites will literally eat you alive snd the beasts best used to rip a man apart. The poisons that cause the slowest and most painful death. The parts of the body to avoid killing a man during torture. Hell, give "him" any object and "he" will find a way to murder someone with it. No lie. Camera? Flash it enough times to cause a lethal seizure. A lamp? Oh, don't get "him" started on those. (For those who are wondering how this topic came into conversation… Don't ask. I'm wondering the same thing you are, too.) "He" will find a way to kill but the issue is finding the way to make it happen.

Our scientists are also government workers and most of them are [brainwashed] prisoners of war from Grandara. Should our POW volunteers fail, they get sent to what's called Pugatorio. (I think this is a word from the human language called Italian. It's from humans. That's all I know for sure.) It's… It's a labor camp. You live in a barbed wire prison for a certain amount of years (the years it takes to redeem yourself apparently) with barely enough food to survive assuming no one steals it from you. No one has returned from Purgatorio. The sentences are typically ridiculously long and the conditions are not made to fulfill these sentences. (I've heard factory workers also suffer the same fate. I don't know. Gladly I've never been to one. I suppose it would also be appropriate to give my replacement's word on such things once again. (Do I have to introduce Hiei to you again?) "what the point of having people get tortured when _you're_ not the one doing it? It doesn't make any damn sense." I don't know if that's humanity, genius, or sadism.)

For our own men, needless to say, they have high standards set by the king and set by themselves. High suicide rate.

That being said, I get to my main point. We came to a time when we were constantly at war (which when I started with my new job I took with intense longing as I wanted to return to the front. What can I say? Being a soldier is the greatest honor a man can have in my hometown. In later years, I began to become perfectly fine with noty being a soldier. Too much bullshit.) Let me clarify, the battle was just over borders. We did have weapons of mass destruction but we never used them. But I never recall ever being at war with Raizen. I think we never went into war with each other since Yomi came to power but info on this whole thing are hard to come by. (For some reason, the guy really liked to dick around with Mukuro. Maybe he thought Raizen was too easy to defeat.) For some reason, the newspapers claimed we were at war with Yomi and Raizen was the neutral party. The next day was the other way around. Then some weeks they got creative and made both parties our enemies. We never win nor does the war ever win. We have extended periods of armistices. (But isn't that all peacemaking really is?) To be a soldier is a life long commitment. You basically sign your own death certificate when you enlist. It's a great honor but no turning point is ever allowed.

I do remember asking THE GENERAL about it. He shrugged and replied, "If you notice things like that, you might be thinking too much. People these days don't think like that you know. Just face it, corporal, we live in a world where we can only look out for our own. We can't afford to have alliances with either of those two because the second they get a chance they can and _will_ stab us in the back. And you know pretty damn well that an alliance means you're willing to show your weaknesses and once the tables are turned then we will be taken advantage of. Fucking… People these days are untrustworthy."

Now I didn't want to just leave it at that. Besides, that rant didn't even really answer my question. "Well, we'd know their weakness so we'd be equals, won't we? Hell, depending on who it is, we'd be more than equals. If that's the way it is then we can prepare to attack that weakness and be ready to protect our own."

"What, you don't think they'd be doing the same?"

"I'm sure they would. I won't argue with you on those points. I just wanted to know hy the hell the paper can argue on who we're supposed to be at war with. I don't think it's possible for someone to be at war with one country one week and not the next- this whole business of flip-flopping allies and constantly mobilizing armies one place to the next… It doesn't make any damned sense to me."

"Do you really want to ask that, corporal?"

I wish he acknowledged that I had a name. "Excuse me?"

"It sounds like you're overstepping your boundaries. That you're questioning the integrity of Lord Mukuro's actions."

"Since when do the newspapers dictate what Lord Mukuro's intentions? All they do is repeat what they heard to everyone else."

"Oh, is that it corporal? Is that all? Why have it then rather than a town gossip?"

Then this voice entered the conversation. "Such impassioned speeches?" We both turned around and there was the king standing there, though "he" sounded a bit confused. "He" just stood there silently demanding to know what's going on so I gave "him" the barest facts from the whole exchange. "He" blinked and finally said, "You know the newspapers often lie, don't you? I could tell you the ones who are the consistent offenders and the ones who generally speak the truth. Didn't you hear the saying you can't believe everything you see on TV? It's the same thing. Ask a soldier friend. They'll set all the questions you have straight."

Now that was a truth. Okay a partial truth. "He" admitted that the media was lying to the viewer but what "he" didn't say was that they did it because they had to if they wanted to continue their career and their lives. Apparently other citizens are very submissive or vry stupif to accept these types of things. I hope it's the first one. Neither of the two could account for the constant changes though. I wish I could contact the other soldiers so I can make sure that we were still at war. You can't tell from the capital the same way you can't tell if there's a hurricane at the other side of the country without telling you.

Another word on the arms race… We came very close to seeing a nuclear holocaust in the face. There was a thunderstorm in Grandara. It's plagued by that sort of stuff. It just happened to strike a launch pad nd it launched one of its biggest nukes which I believe was something cheesy like STARGATE, and it hit a glacier off the coast of Shizuoka. For a while, we suspected water contamination. Immediately Mukuro threatened retaliation and within moments our own nukes were pointed at them. Yomi was not quick to answer and we were not quick to attack.

Yomi finally sent a message of apology and stated that it was all because of a thunderstorm. He urged us to put away our weapons. THE GENERAL did not take this well to say the least.

"Bullshit! A thunderstorm he calls it! That was intentional and we both know damned well that it was!"

"Now just wait a second! It's common knowledge that that area is prone to thunderstorms. Isn't it possible that a lightning strike just happened to launch the missile?" I almost added that no one had gotten killed in the blast. Besides that, the benefit was that it confirmed all of what FUJITA had told us a few years ago. About radiation, I mean. As of yet, the radiation has not been cleared. No one can go in that area to this day.

"You believe that crap! You know that guy lies about everything to us. You've been disappointing me so much lately, corporal! You're such a useless fool!"

Mukuro wasn't feeling up tp doing "his" own reasoning that day. It was "his" birthday. the only reason we were dealing with all that at the time was because it was a state of emergency. Even the civilians were hiding in their newly made bomb shelters. "He" rubbed a finger on what was most likely to be "his" temple and said, "I'll take Kirin's point as a possibility along with your idea of being a deliberate attempt to attack us. Both sides are pretty plausible."

THE GENERAL couldn't leave it. "You're believing this joker?"

The next thing I knew, Mukuro was standing on the table and had THE GENERAL- a man who doubled in size and mass- by the throat like he was nothing more than a rag doll. "Need I remind you that you were the one who hired Kirin as your assistant? Now end your petty squabbles or I _will_ end _you._ Frankly, I've had enough of you and your arrogant tone. Are you going to clean up your act or will I have to clean _you_ out?" "He" tightened "his" grip on THE GENERAL'S throat. I already saw that this wasn't gonna end well.

"You…" He still managed to choke out some words. "You know you have such feminine hands. So you must be a sorry bitch. Bet it really gets you hot being around men all the time. You just wanna fuck one of us one day, don't you?"

Then with Mukuro's eloquent response of, "Fuck you," THE GENERAL was literally blown to bits. Then Mukuro just sat in "his" seat as calm as can be even though "he" was covered in blood and flicked a bit of flesh off "his" shirt. "He" finally said, "the meeting's adjourned. My decision has been made." And that was the end of our internal issues. We never let down our nukes nor did Yomi.

Then everyone in the cabinet began to gather in the basement of the capital building. All brought things to stay the night-dinner, sleeping supplies, breakfast- but few of us actually used them. None went to sleep. Every night for four months we gathered away from our families (some of us took turns calling home to make sure they were safely hidden in their shelters). Lord Mukuro literally sat with one hand next to the button to launch the nuke (or ultimate one was called METEORA for some reason) and the other right next to the phone to contact the military. "He" just sat there, staring blankly at the wall with itchy fingers. Some of us burst into tears in fear of not seeing the next day come. Then the end began to end one day Raizen stepped in the middle.

He urged us to rethink our actions. Told us that the fate of the rest of the world should not be marked by an incidental thunder strike. And that was pretty much the sum of what he said. It was enough to convince the both of us to stop pointing at each other. I don't know why he choose to involve himself in the conflict. I doubt that he really thought the fate of the world was coming too soon. If we were so determined to do each other in, we would have set our missiles off a long time ago. He probably knew he was no match against those things. He also never prepared his people in the case that a missile would be launched. Of course, by doing so called ofor the third to declare war on the aggressor. Let's just be glad he did so.

It wasn't until after our nearing nuclear holocaust that I realized that I was now Lord Mukuro's second in command. I had indirectly dethroned my general and now I blame myself. I was sick knowing that I took his job in such a way. I will admit that I had an instrumental role in that whole thing. But I will also admit that the whole thing didn't have to end that way. Mukuro didn't have to blow the guy to bits. But the reasoning is because it was a bad part of the year. "He" won't take shit on that day. "He" won't have it enough to kill a man. To this day, I see no remorse and I suppose that "he" just forgot. It's unforgivable. Yes, that's why I had no qualms about taking my own king out during the tournament. I don't know why- I guess I'm more emotional. (Than Mukuro? Okay, that might be an overstatement there. I'll be honest; "he's" almost on the extreme.) Even though THE GENERAL doesn't deserve much respect on my part, it wasn't enough to justify his brutal slaughter. I put on this face from then on that I actually enjoyed my job.

Raizen… Really interesting guy. Starved himself for five hundred years. that whole incident in itself was what started an arms race between the three of us. We all got prepared for battle to be the one who has it all. I remember planning my own suicide should we win. If Mukuro was the absolute king, I wanted no part in it whatsoever. I planned a similar suicide should Yomi win. It was basically a no win situation for me.

Now someone must be wondering how it was a cold war when there were several hot wars going on during that period. It wasn't a declaration of war from anyone really at that point. Rather it was just a blown up police action. There were rebellions on the borders so troops were sent out to control that area. That's all. Look, that's all I, as a corporal, can tell you. I didn't even know what I was fighting for when I was still fighting.

It was from that whole conflict that I came to know Hiei, who I've mentioned several times by now. Short guy, about half my size and that's pretty much all anyone seems to remember about him. ("Hey, you see Hiei around anywhere?"

"Who?"

"That short guy."

"Oh. He went that way.) I think he's numb to the feeling by now. As a side note, it was suiting seeing how everyone calls Mukuro the Terrible Dwarf of the Northeast. (For some reason Yomi just calls him Caligula. Don't ask. It has something to do with humans. The guy likes looking at their dictators just so he can use it on Mukuro.) From the small amount of time that I met him until the replacement, I'd say he's like a young Mukuro. They were similar except Hiei catches me as more level headed. More than I thought considering the stories I've heard. They guy loves to see gallons and gallons of blood come out of his victims- for someone's sake! And he just likes to be in the background. My town would describe him as "silently anxious thumb twittler." He doesn't talk more than he feels he has to and probably as he talks to more people, loves his pets more… If he had any anyway.

I don't admire him nor do I hate him. I don't feel any sort of bitterness towards him for replacing me. In fact, I practically danced a jog when I was told that I was being replaced in favor of Hiei. I don't know what compelled the king to make the sudden change but to hell with reasoning, I wasn't the second in command anymore! (Someone asked him about the change, he turned slightly red and refused to answer. Also, the pay off was slightly less glorious with his the response to the news, "…Shit." I later found out he didn't want any sort of status for fear of it interfering with his freedom. He spelled it out to Mukuro.) I no longer had to do Mukuro's dirty work though I did pity him for being stuck with the job I ended up being someone else's assistant but it was a lesser but more rewarding job. But it was only for six months. Raizen died. Hiei was the one who confirmed that with us. Shortly after Yusuke Urameshi, Raizen's heir and sudden king in spite of being as young as sixteen (Humans age quickly like dogs so that might not be as young as we think it is.) journeyed to Grandara and proposed the Demon World tournament. Hence the three empires fell.

Ours fell hard. When Mukuro told us, someone in the crowd took a gun to his head and blew his brains out. He just couldn't imagine a world where Mukuro was not the ruler. I remember thinking to myself, "Christmas came early!" I really wanted to call my family but I didn't know how to contact theme. I didn't know their address if they still lived in the same place. I never heard from them. hiei had the same attitude. He finally shed the title he didn't want. (How would you feel if you were only known as a lowly killing machine one minute and the next have everyone look at you like a panda in a zoo with fifty percent more envy?)

The day of the tournament… We finally got to see Mukuro's face. I was surprised to find that "he" was actually a fairly beautiful woman, except for the scars on her face. Hiei wasn't at all surprised and told me with the same response as when we asked him about the sudden change of status that he had seen her face prior to the incident. The shifty eyes he had implied that he might have seen more than her face. He also once suggested that her scars weren't just on her face either. (Though you could just assume just by looking at her neck.)

But a woman… hell, that explained a lot. I'm not being sexist, it just explained a lot to me. When we talked there it was all business. It didn't change anything. It was just a little uncomfortable to see a few men giving your king the eye behind her back.

END OF SESSION 2- SPEECH EXCERPT FROM MATSUDA KAI, 12 JUNE 19XX. ONE OF HIS REMAINING LECTURES.

_Author's notes: Not much to say here… I made these demons really human, didn't I? The caps lock, as I'm sure, is really annoying but I did it to indicate the "change." Yes, I, unlike Gloria Tesh, know where the quotations go as well. I just did that to further indicate the sudden change. I know that was annoying too. I couldn't think of any names. The arms race was based on the Cuban Missile crisis if you didn't notice that. I don't blame you if you don't… Caligula was a Roman emperor, who I'll just say it, was kind of batshit nuts. Apparently he killed on whim, and liked lots and lots of butt sex… No, he just had sex with people's wives and bragged about it. (no source, sorry. based on wikipedia and I've seen stuff on this guy before too…) On a less disturbing note- here, have something from the tournament._

_Mukuro: I don't really want to hurt you.  
__Hiei: Then don't.  
__Mukuro: (sends him flying a mile away)  
Hiei: GODDAMMIT!_


	3. 1992 and on

1945

Notes: This is still two more parts than I originally wanted but it gives a bit more insight… On what I think it was like to be there anyway. I dunno. I write the beginning of this one a plane back to California from Hawaii so let's see if I can successfully decode my crappy handwriting… I'm still not sure why I picked the Cold War for this. World War II could have also worked. I dunno. It's all weird. Oh yeah and this year is the year the end of the Cold War occurred. I wrote this on paper starting in May 2010 and ended in August of 2010. (Does anyone care?) So let's get this finished.

.1992 and onward.

Peacetime at last. For the most part. I have the feeling a lot of people weren't happy with the outcome. If they aren't then we got the calm before the storm here. Or maybe the naysayers are quiet for once or their uprisings are too easily squashed by local forces. Or maybe they're just too tired or too lazy to do anything about their distaste. No matter what the reason, it's quiet and I like it and won't question it anymore. Enough said. Soldiers finally get to lay down their weapons and come home. I could go home. I never did try, really. I'm still a little afraid of what my mother would do if I showed up on her doorstep hoping to catch up on the years and years I was gone. My mother can hold a grudge forever. She'd take it to the grave if she could and I know that. That's just the way it is. I'm still pretty content with being where I am today though. It's dull as hell but I still signed up for the job, dammit.

Speaking of peacetime, I happened to talk with a former enemy of mine who served in the same war I did. And we were talking like we never once were pointing guns at each other.

"You know you guys used to scare the breathing shit outta me. I remember I spent half the battle listening to your screeching war cries. It was so inhuman. I also felt it a bit in my spine…" I can't remember his name. Wasn't it something like Ichikawa Nozomu? All I remember was that he was a master sergeant in his army. "So when I went to visit this place on a whim, I was really surprised at how nice you people were. I got some dirty looks, sure, but that I can understand. I mean, if _you_ went to my country you'd get the same thing- no, actually you'd get it worse. People at home are dicks. The say I showed there was this funeral going on and everyone, I mean, _everyone_, was there and everyone actually was grieving. You don't get that where I'm from. You're lucky if your friends and family show up. Most of them don't even act like they wanna be there. Then again we just say that all that happens after you die is that you just rot in the ground."

"We hear the same thing here, actually," I replied. "We're just a little tighter. But it depends on what part you're at too. Big cities are more impersonal, in my experience."

"By how much?"

"I dunno. I don't know many people in my hometown either."

"Yeah, we're nothing like you. We're the same jerks no matter where you go Same with the other territory except they're the nicest damn people you'd ever meet. You punch em in the face and they'll still give you a hug like you're their best friend. Gotta envy that idea though. Freaking country made me scared of most people."

"Here, you'd be afraid your girlfriend'll get so pissed at you that she'd report you to the Ground Troopers. At let _you'll_ never get falsely accused."

"No, I have trouble taking shits sometimes knowing he'd hear every second of it."

"Either way, I think we're better off for now."

"You said it. I wonder how long it'll take for us to all, you know, integrate. We may be allowing tourists over borders and our kings may act like they're getting along- and you know they still hate each other's guts- but that doesn't change the fact that we've been at each other's throats for over five hundred years…"

About this… I've heard that families that were separated in the revolutions began to find and make contact with each other. So I guess blood is thicker than water. (Do they even know who each other are? I always wondered about that.) Some people were crying for this to happen for years, claiming that their separation wasn't their fault, were overjoyed that they finally got what they wanted. I don't know how these ever worked out. Whenever I read articles on this stuff, I usually get bored about halfway through and read something else.

The two kings are less enthusiastic about having to improve relations with each other as two civilians. The media enjoys covering such steps towards better relations. From how I see it, neither really cares. They're happy not having to be stressed out with the power. (I mean you can hear it in Mukuro's voice that she's actually relaxed… Something people attribute to something else, and I'll get to that later.) It's just having to deal with each other that annoys them. But they try to look like they're happy talking… On a side note, I once passed them during an exchange and I hear them grumbling cusses at each other with perfect smiles on their faces… I had trouble sleeping that night for some reason.

Yomi says he's determined to change his character altogether as a result of his meeting Yusuke. (Am I the only one who thinks he's just as full of shit as he was back in the day?) Lately he's been wandering aimlessly with his son, who has a real complex if you ask me. (Kid's walking around like they're gonna hand him the title of being king and he already knows it. What I wouldn't give to give him a good thrashing…) A few times Yomi showed up here and acted like he was so glad to see Mukuro. She gave him this look like, "You're so full of shit and you know it." And we all knew it (I can't look at him without thinking of flies being around him.) but he still acts like they're best friends.

Oh she let him have it one day. Yomi later told me he was just trying to be friendly and didn't mean to offend- which he really didn't- but…

"So everything's good fine between you and-what's his name?- Hiei, I assume?" I'm not lying, he really asked that question.

She'd heard that question so many times it didn't come off as a shock anymore. The bystanders just stopped in their tracks to see what she would say to _Yomi_. After a couple of moments of silence, Mukuro cocked a brow and replied, "Depends on your motive for asking, Yomi. Your interest on this particular element of my personal life is really unsettling."

And the look on Yomi's face was completely priceless. His face just said, What the hell? Then he found another approach. "I was just asking like a friend would…"

"If your friends ask about such things, I would suggest getting new ones. That's really none of their business and therefore none of yours, whether there happens to be a motive behind asking or not."

He just too the hint and finally moved on to a more appropriate conversation. I don't know what he was expecting- if he wanted a straight yes or no answer, or if he wanted an in-depth response. (Why did he have to ask _that_ of all things anyway?) Either way the result was the same as others, and I knew it would be at the very least because Yomi's not that damn special. No matter how sneaky you are about it, Mukuro would always catch on quick and give you the same ambiguous answer as always.

No, really, this is a pretty annoying thing that's been circulating lately. For some reason, people have this misconception that she and Hiei are constantly having screaming passionate black-clawing sex. My answer, I mean, obviously I have some sort of answer, right? Obviously! I don't know and I don't care to know. If they are, then it really isn't showing in either of the two. If they are, this I strongly believe is something that should strictly remain between these two if they want it to. (Even if they do it should just be between them.) That's the way I was taught to act. Nothing good ever came out of being a scandalous busybody like that. (Oh, and the rumor that she might be pregnant… Fuck you guys. Just fuck you.)

I also happen to believe that such conversations would never have happened if it weren't for Yusuke Urameshi. Before you call me out on this one, let me say this- it wasn't intentional. Really it was just some joking between friends. He used to show up pretty often but not so much anymore. I think he went back to the Human World… But when he does show up, he usually says something along the lines of "Hey when you guys gonna get married? Better do it before she gets preggo and then the joke's gonna be on you." And somehow it caught on with other people… And the tabloids who seem to enjoy putting their relationship into question. I'm assuming they love soap operas who pull that crap. I also disapprove of that shit too.

I feel kind of bad for Hiei because he was so happy being obscure and now suddenly everyone wants to know his sexual status. He's pretty numb to the feeling now and frequently finds articles in newspapers just so he can find something to laugh at in there. (I have a feeling that I should feel sorry for him just for feeling he has to do that. It kind of scares the hell out of Mukuro.) Like Mukuro, he also refuses to give a straight answer and he has this knack for going on another tangent. (As in, "Can you tell us how your relationship is?"

"I wrote on a test once that she's wrong because she's a woman. Or at least I would if I ever went to school. Did you?")

Oh a similar awkward note, there's a few guys that hang around here that claim they fell in love with Mukuro at first sight of her face and one was bold enough to make a pass on her, which she handled with indifference. I have a feeling all they want a night in bed with her just to say they did it. But who knows? It's difficult to find a person who could see through that kind of thing. Me? I could tell you she's pretty but I would never lust after her and I wouldn't want to be around a person who blew a man to bits like that. Even if she is more lowkey than she used to be.

We're all on patrol duty. Some people from the other two territories join just because they were promised a job with adventure and were able to travel around to their heart's content. (I never figured out who said that. I would love to meet them.) That was a blown up lie. But that's lie. Most of us do our own thing. (I suspect Hiei gets over ten hours of sleep a day. But that's none of my business..) Sometimes we actually gather up as in this particular scenario. On this day, Shigure and Hiei were sitting at the table playing chess and this kid from Grandara, whose name was something like Tomitake Tohma (but for some reason everyone just calls him Testuya) and I were watching. We all had a beer except for Hiei. He's a real lightweight. I think it has something to do with his height. I don't know how it works.

"Stupid, pawns can't move sideways," Shigure said as he shook his head at Hiei.

"They do now so fuck you." he moved it back anyway and then pushed it to the next black square.

"What! They don't move diagonally either."

"Not if you eat the enemy."

"You don't eat them either. You just kill them."

"So you mean to tell me that you just stand on their corpse and dance?"

"You don't dance on their corpse."

But you're admitting that you at least stand on their corpse?"

"What does it matter?"

"Would you want to stay in the same foxhole with a corpse?"

"So you're saying that after killing one thousand of those demons plus however many you may have done in the past, you're scared to be near a corpse?"

"One thousand one counting you actually."

"That doesn't count. I'm still here."

"The records have you reported dead on that date. I checked. Which makes you a zombie."

"The n you're reported dead on that date as well, which also makes you a zombie. Hurry up and make your move."

Hiei frowned at him before making a logical move. "See, there's a reason they make multiple life sentences and this is why. …And also in the off chance that someone gains immortality."

"Bull shit!" Testuya cried.

"Read a book on the legal system. They'll answer your questions about multiple life sentences."

"How do you know? When'd you ever get interested in legal issues?"

"You ask too many questions, you know that? What are you again, a master sergeant, command sergeant major? Same difference."

"Hey there's a big difference!"

"One's higher than the other and the pretty picture you wear is difference. Oh, what a big tragedy that is."

"That's the difference between a corporal and a sergeant! Or a lieutenant and a captain! You see huge differences in power there!"

"So the corporal gets kicked around by the sergeant in the same way a lieutenant gets kicked around by a captain. Yet all four have to answer to a general and the five of them all have to answer to the king. Let's not also forget that they'll all rot in the ground with worms in their intestines at the moment of their untimely death. So you may think you have everything for having that title but in the end you'll just be a pile of worm shit."

"Just answer my question!"

"See you don't go up in ranks by asking questions. You just make a name for yourself as a philosopher."

"Hiei, just answer the kid's question or we'll all being hearing him begging for the answer all day," I finally said.

Apparently he was disappointed that his fun was over. "Look, I held a government position for about six months. I had to read about the government's policies. And Mukuro stared over my shoulder the whole time to make sure that I was reading it. She didn't trust me doing shit alone for some reason." She never did that for me. Thankfully.

"I did too… And I mean that I read the legal stuff but not that part!" Testsuya just wanted to take the other side of the question.

"Yomi's a dumb ass for making you have to read all that. What's the point of knowing your unprotected rights as a criminal on the field of battle? But he also took six tries to realize people love the sound of communism."

"Hey, my family supported him from the start… And how do you feel about communism?"

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"Oh come on…"

"Well, look, since I know you're not gonna let this die. Capitalism's based on every man for himself so it kills people too fast for anyone to enjoy it. Communism does it too slow because everyone has to work together- that is if anyone decided to do real communism. But socialism… Socialism gets it right. You can go at the pace you want."

"You're screwed up! So you're a socialist?"

"No. I don't choose sides. You have to keep contributing to the same things over and over. I don't like consistency. It's boring."

"Because you say things like that I'm glad you never joined the army," Shigure said as he killed a knight.

Testuya stared at him blankly. Then he got this look on his face like a pig when he realizes that there's some food to eat. "Hey, wait. What army would you join if we all had to be at war?"

"Well, considering that I got stuck here…" Hiei said without even looking up as he attempted to move a rook diagonally. Shigure looked like he was ready to strangle him.

"Where are you from anyway? You a native cause you kinda talk weird like the people weird. Except you have this weird other… Tone on it. I've heard people from Raizen's area and they don't have that weird thing you have. It's weird. What the hell's with your accent-y thing?"

Hiei looked at him and shook his head. "You talk funny. When you're hear, _you're_ the one with the funny accent. Or at least I think that's what you're trying to say."

"You… I'm from another country, I have an excuse. What's yours?"

"I'm not from anywhere in particular anyway. I never stayed in one area long enough to become particularly attached. I wouldn't have the patience to stay anywhere too long anyway."

"If it didn't matter where your birthplace was and you had to choose any army, which one you pick? That's the point in case you forgot," Shigure said. "And goddammit, you twit, bishops move diagonally! Not side to side!"

"Why do you even care? You can't pick sides until it was convenient for you," he quickly replied and started juggling some random pieces just to piss him off even more. He stopped and held up two pawns like antennae. "And as far as you're concerned, I just fell from a foreign planet. I might have just wanted you all to live well and prosper."

"I think you're one step away from insanity at this point. And you know you just picked sides because it was interesting to you. Story of your life."

"I didn't have a choice anyway. I was just bored either way."

"Then neither did I." Such a mature reply.

"What exactly is the difference between the three of you anyway? You guys all seem the same."

It looked like it was my time to give my two cents. "Well, for us, we're more depending on discipline and all that good stuff. We go for the kill no matter what it takes. That's what I remember from basic training so many years ago. I've actually heard of some generals giving their soldiers only _four_ _bullets_ for their rifles to up that survival instinct. We don't depend on those too much really. I've also heard of another who insisted his men make at least a certain number of kills each day in order to be able to return to the barracks. And he kept track of it by requiring them to bring their company commander a souvenir. They all had to be the same part of the body… Well, over all, we lost very few battles and have been given the title as the best military force in the world. Not much when you have three but…" Hiei just stated that he could live with doing all that. It was his style anyway.

"Well, you guys got will power…" I stopped Testuya to assure him that it was not will power. Not unless you're less than eight years old. "Well, you got discipline but we got the technology to blow you to pieces."

Okay, there's something wrong here again. "What good is holding a rifle is you don't have enough sense to know not to point it at yourself?"

"Hey, don't get me wrong or anything. We got training and pretty good training, too, but it just got outdated really fast because every year we'd change the artillery so it got out of hand to keep in track of especially if you had bad memory."

"Well, you're all a pretty close number two. You guys get it right pretty often. Often enough to do a good number of us in. Now, Raizen I know we both easily leave in the dust."

"Yeah…" Tetsuya considered it. "Yeah, I heard they got the best food though."

"But is it worth being around a bunch of depressed people waiting for their king to die? Let's face it. That's what kept them down."

And Hiei came to his final verdict, "Heh. You all suck. But I think I was just fine where I was anyway."

"You guys had some problems, too, right?" Tesyua asked me, ignoring Hiei's comment completely. "Cause I remember this one time, right? I was over here walking to the mess tin one day and the lieutenant comes by looking all mad. Then he saw me and he was all like, 'Hey, CSM, I need you to go find Capt. Takahashi for me. I can't find him anywhere and I gotta go to this meeting.' So I just said okay and walked away. I knew I'd find him quick because I'm real good at finding people. And I walked into this abandoned building- that's where they used to put the horses but they were replaced with jeeps and whatnot- and then I heard these moaning sounds from inside and then I heard the Captain's voice. So I walked in and then I saw the Captain in there buttfucking a _doctor_ (Did I mention that he's one of those comedians who doesn't know when the joke ends?) It's one thing if it's a nurse but this was a doctor! A man doctor! And I saw his junk and everything and then I freaked out, right? So then I just go and tell him he was needed and then I walked out. I couldn't sleep. I kept dreaming about getting T-bagged for a week!"

What the fuck? "I've walked in on soldiers and nurses but never anything like that. Think about it, though. Years away from women. You'd start wanting to go out and see someone, anyone to get a change in pace. All military have such things going on. That's just how things turn out." I thought about it and added, "It's stories like this that make me glad I stayed a corporal. It's pretty good being a normal guy."

"Well, that and upper ranks get to stay inside and be safe. I think that's shit, actually," Hiei added. Just when he was about to make a move, Mukuro walked in and was immediately interested in the game she just walked in on. He put a hand on a bishop and smirked at Shigure. "Hey, Shigure."

"What?" Shigure's eyes were glued to the board, thinking of his next move.

"Check mate!" He threw him the bird as he knocked over the king.

"What? How?"

"While you were mocking my illogical moves, dumb fuck."

"Hiei's actually smarter you think," Mukuro said.

Apparently Hiei took this as a challenge. "You think so?"

"Sure. You just don't act like it." She paused. "By the way, don't get so drunk that you pass out. All of you. But mostly you, Hiei."

"Why do I get most of it?"

"You know why."

"No I don't."

"This is why people think you're stupid."

As you can see, we have too much time on our hands.

…

I've been called in for interviews lately. Most of them are foreigners begging to know the true face of Mukuro, rather than the authoritarian tyrant they've told horror stories about around the campfire. And it seems like I'm the next reliable source. They claim I am anyway.

Well, I guess if you think about it… Both Yomi and Mukuro are out of the question because they explicitly stated that they don't want to be badgered by interviewers on their rule until everything settles down in the world. (Which is comparable to saying "When pigs fly." Oddly enough scientists have for years been trying to make this possible.) Shura, Yomi's son, is also out of the question because he was unaware of any details prior to what we already know. Besides, children don't understand much about the world.

As far as the second in commands go, I seem to be the only one that has seen enough to know what was really going on and enough to have a good perspective on what was going on. As part of his lifestyle as a monk, one which continues long after Raizen's death and continues to plan to do so, Hokushin refuses to come into contact with any more technology than he already has- and this rules out cameras. (He says this but I think this is like his vow to never eat human flesh. We all know damn well that he did because he looks pretty good for a starving man.) Yusuke Urameshi, who we all know became king, had nothing important to say. Some reporters, however, beg for his say so they can have the benefit of saying they have a human perspective. Yomi didn't have anyone in a position long enough to tell their side of the story. Yomi went through advisors the same way he went through number twos. Meaning that he had one for about ten years at the most. (Once that one named Sachi came into power, the position of number two stabilized. I've got no doubt in my mind that he had a hand in the killings.) Kurama would then only be able to to tell us what we already know, other than whatever happened with Sachi. He was clueless about the rules of the three kings but he was still happy to give him what little he did experience. Supposedly the guy's been pulling the knight in shining armor act since he became human. Hiei is the same way as you could tell from the conversation before. Though, people are too busy bugging Hiei about his relationship with Mukuro to give a flying fuck about whether he had some good reflections on the whole thing anyway.

So it looks like I'm the ideal one to ask. Or I would be if I were the portrait of a gentleman like our human friend I mentioned before. I hate interviews because once one person interviews you, then everybody and their mother comes knocking on your door with a camera or tape recorder in one hand and a notepad in the other. And we all know they all ask the same questions and the ones after the first interviewer seems to think they'll get more information out of the person the next time around.

"What was it like being the right hand man to your king?" they'll ask. It's nothing to be proud of like most people think. The people at the bottom, people like my family and hell, maybe even yours, would think that it's the best job in the world. The guard who took away your parents, your siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors friends know better. You have to live with being a name associated with a killer. What your leader does, your name is signed right next to it. Like just about everything else in world, it all comes back down to you.

I shouldn't have coveted this job.

I shouldn't have accepted this job.

I sometimes wish that I had died rather than take this job. Just gone out in the battlefield and got my brains blown out. I could have been happy taking my happy ass home from the war and continuing with the family business. I could have been a nobody. I should have been a normal schizophrenic man. Just a nobody, you know? Nobodies are poor and but ignorant and ignorance is bliss. It's fucking orgasmic. Nobodies scrape for their last meal and suffer in the extremes but they're ignorant and ignorance is bliss.

…

I got one more thing to say before I end this. Some of you at this point may remember STAFF SERGEANT and by now some of you may have forgotten about him. Whether you did or not doesn't matter. As far as you're concerned, he's just another word in here because he was never given the honor of having a name.

As I figured at the time, there was no need for secrecy. Mukuro wasn't the king anymore nor was her word absolute anymore. I could ask her anything I wanted about the government. King Enki encouraged openness, something Yomi mocked as a repeat of _glasnost_ and _perestroika_ which caused a human country to fall to pieces. (To which the king addressed by stating that he should be the first to open up his secrets and become and example to the others. I always thought Yomi thought, "Shit!") But back on track…

So I confronted her one day… "Do you remember, or should I say… Where are the records of everyone in the country?"

She looked at me and I knew then that she knew where I was going with it. She didn't want to go for the throat just yet. "Oh, the chamber of records is where the capital was. That's where the census bureau is located. Are you trying to get reconnected with your family? you never went home when you could have left. I noticed that. Or were you told you could never leave?"

"Actually that last one is a yes. It has nothing to do with my family."

"That's a shame. You actually have a family. You should cherish them."

Was I supposed to pity her? I wouldn't have been surprised if she killed her own parents. Or am I being bitter? "Knowing my mother, my family would have been convinced that I was no good because I took the job. It has nothing to do with me. Look, unless you're willing to save me the trouble of going all the way over there, then there's not much more you need to know."

"I might. I know more people than you think."

"You know that guy… That… Staff sergeant."

"Your supposed hallucination?"

"You never believed that I was…?"

"Schizophrenic? Nope. I always doubted it."

"And you never said anything? You just let them tell me that?"

"It's not really my place to go around telling the military what they did wrong. At best, I can ensure that they've been fired. I have so little time to monitor that stuff. And at the time, I didn't have enough evidence to back such a claim anyway."

Other than your word being law? "So what made you think I wasn't?"

"I've seen enough to know who's got what. So you're looking for your friend in the records. So let me get this straight- he was a poet and he wrote something the state didn't like- correct?" I nodded. "So you tried to contact him after he panicked about the whole thing?"

"Called him and this lady picks up and tells me she always lived where she was at and that no one ever had the same number." at that point, I was starting to dread the outcome. If she were to admit that she were too bad of a person, then she would have to atone for the sins she committed. It was part of the job. Would she go and admit what she did, I wondered…

"What town are you from?" she asked me, dancing around the answer.

"Small city. Pretty much a farm town. HINAMIZAWA."

"He was too?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's certainly strange for a small town. You usually hear of such things in places around the capital. Well, I'll save you the trip because it would most likely end the same way if you asked about him… It's hopeless. Unless he killed himself, which I know he didn't, you would find no record of him."

I thought to myself that it was shocking that she was actually being truthful about the whole thing. I was beginning to think I'd have to pry it out of her. And we both knew exactly what she meant by what she said. I had to hear it come out of her own mouth. So I asked her, "Meaning what?"

"Taken away by the Troopers. Reported and taken away."

"To Purgatorio?"

"Not if he's lucky. Death is better than Purgatorio. I wouldn't want you to see what it changes him into. You'd even see the change in the guards there."

"Surely there's got to be some indication that he was there."

"The army had no record of him, did they?"

"No."

"He was taken then." I heard some regret in her voice. It wasn't enough to make me back off. I had to know the whole truth whether it destroyed everything for me. After living so many years of lies, you'd do the same. Don't think I'm horrible. "Look, these guys were thorough. When they take someone away, they make sure there is no trace at all of the person. They erase a person's records, completely redecorate their home, and replace them with a gullible or otherwise brainwashed or unquestioning civilian. It'd be like they never existed. That's exactly what they want you to think."

"But I remember him!"

She gave me this look like I didn't hear a word she just said. "You may be the only one. You're the small percentage of people that wouldn't be so easily influenced. It's a bitch to accept but memory alone isn't a source. I could distinctly remember you knifing me yesterday after you horribly violated me but that doesn't necessarily mean it happened without solid evidence. Though even then that evidence could be false…"

"I don't want to listen to a philosophy lecture! Are there any records of the staff sergeant or not!"

"We both know he existed. That's a fact. Just between us. And I'm sure that's what you wanted to hear. I don't know what going to the records will prove for you but I will admit that he was taken away by the Ground Troopers because he was reported as an enemy to the government. All records of him have been lost for good."

"But why did he have to die? Why did anyone have to die?"

"Power hunger from all sides. Each and every angle." And then she looked at me with the creepiest blank stare. It was probably what it was like to look at the open eyes of a ghost or a corpse. It was just something beyond living. Words can't describe it. "_Each and every angle_."

"You don't fully understand do you?"

"Or is it you who doesn't fully understand? How would you like writing the letters of condolences to each of the thousands of families affected though you're unsure as to whether or not they would even remember or choose to remember the person mentioned in the letter let alone whether there's anyone who would be able to received the letter at all? What's the worst part is that whether or not you do so makes no difference because you may have written to a million families but you don't even know if that's even a drop in the bucket. Hell, it might just be a drop in a lake or in the ocean. You know how many drops it takes just to make one goddamned puddle with a radius of a meter and just a centimeter in depth? Pretty damn hard to keep track. And by doing so you're just rekindling the flames of hate against the state. And it's all in my own name. And I have to go to bed everyday and have that shit looming over me. I can't even sit alone without feeling that hanging on me. I never was completely alone. It's always been me and my hate. Just me and my hate."

"But he's not just another statistic."

"'One man is a life. A million is a statistic.' But you and I become nothing more than names after we're all done. The way things happened for your friend just erased that name altogether. There's nothing I can do for you or for him. Unless you wanted to see me go into pieces and commit suicide because of that one man then you have no reason to pursue the topic any further."

At that point I just got so angry that I just finally let her have it. "You're such a heartless bitch you don't really feel guilty about the lives you took, are you? It's just one giant glass of split milk that you need to clean up! And you justify it by saying that you weren't in the right mind because all that fuels your actions are emotions. How an impulsive cunt like you ever was able to get into power I have no clue. Might as well let any random serial killer just waltz into power."

And then she just stared at me. She didn't say anything at all. She didn't even change expressions. At the time, I just wanted her to say something, anything. Because she didn't made me even angrier. But right now I had no doubt in my mind that she already had those same thoughts.

That look she had. It was the look someone has when they contemplate suicide. Whether or not she ever did say anything of the sort to Hiei in their various meetings I don't know.

When I came back, Hiei just looked at me like he knew exactly what the hell was going on. He just had this whole "been there, done that" look on his face. He pulled me aside and then we went drinking and he passed out for the first time. (This was him trying to be comforting.)

…That's all that you need to know. Please don't ask anymore questions. I can't stand it.

_[This is not a call for sympathy or an accusation. Just a statement of the truth. This was no sponsored by any third party.]_

END OF SESSION 3- CSM STANDS FOR COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR. HIGH RATES OF SUICIDES HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN GROUND TROOPERS. IT IS UNKNOWN WHETHER THESE ARE ACTUAL SUICIDES OR JUST REPORTED SUICIDE. GLASNOST AND PERESTROIKA HAVE YET TO BE EXPLAINED IN DEMON WORLD TERMS. ALSO THE NAME OF THE TOWN HAS BEEN CHANGED FOR PRIVACY REASONS.

_Author's Notes: Haha, demons. Glasnost is translated to openness/honesty. It's Mikhail Gorbachev's policy in which he took old Soviet records to show the evils of previous Premiers. (Generally it was Josef Stalin and Vladimir I. Lenin.) Perestroika is translated to restructuring and it's a policy by Gorbachev in which he tried to recover the USSR after failed campaigns like Stalin's CommiCon (the Soviet Marshall Plan, an economic aid to foreign countries.) Other than being two of the five Russian words I know (the others being da, nyet, and babushka) they actually caused the Soviet Union to go to pieces because the people began to see that their communism didn't quite work it. I'm staring at Hiei as I'm writing this and laughing. If you haven't read Lovecraft Anon, you won't understand. (Also listening to a Russian song…) I don't recommend you do so. You do it if you want. The quote Mukuro says has been accredited to Stalin. But it turns out some guy made that shit up only because he thought it was something he would say. What a D-bag. (Like Ambrosse.)  
Mess tins are where the military goes to get food. Basically a cafeteria. Barracks are where they sleep basically. Yeah. I learned this from JROTC. Freaking Let 2. And the reasoning behind multiple life sentences is exactly what was written here, I shit you not (Life sentences are like eighty years I think.)__  
Okay, you guys are bored now. You didn't come over here to read history. And you wanted no philosophy but Mukuro was all like "Fuck your face." So… Yeah. Thanks for reading._


End file.
